Need Suggestions on Watering

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kypeep

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Have some land leased and want to put cattle on it. Big creek separates this property from that of a many-acre, heavily-forested hunting club behind it. Need to fence off back side of the leased land from the hunting club's so cattle won't wonder over and get lost or shot, but that means cattle won't have access to the creek (and there is no other water on the leased land). Any ideas as to how to get water to the cattle (or the cattle to the water) without spending alot of money?

The other thing to take into account is that the creek bank slopes down fairly steeply for the most part (except for one sandy area) and sometimes floods even over its highest banks in spring and fall.
 
without spending alot of money?
Sounds like you are already doing that putting a fence on someone elses property.
You could use a pump into the creek. Put in a storage tank which supplies the water trough.
 
What kind of pump? Please elaborate on that set-up, if you don't mind.

Luckily fencing material will be supplied by people who own the farm, and another fellow is going to supply the cattle. This isn't to run cattle for me per se, but to have cattle to use for working my cutting horses.
 
kypeep":b5z4p9eu said:
What kind of pump? Please elaborate on that set-up, if you don't mind.

Luckily fencing material will be supplied by people who own the farm, and another fellow is going to supply the cattle. This isn't to run cattle for me per se, but to have cattle to use for working my cutting horses.
You could run a submersible with a generator. That way you could push the water up to what ever height it is to where you want the water. If you put a pump at the top then it has to have enough suction to bring it from however deep the creek is. You may check out solar powered pumps. Gasoline pumps will usually push water a long way but do not suck from much depth. I have a Honda that will bring up water from about 15 feet and push up another 20 over about 300 feet. So basically check out your requirements and then select a pump based on the specifications. There should be a supplier in your area that could help.
 
Jeeez!!! How far down the bank is the creek? Here's the problem - put equipment on the creek bank or a submersible pump in the water ---------> torrential rains = equipment gets washed away. Depending how far down the creek is, you might be able to get a gas powered trash pump that could be placed up on top of the bank, within the fence line, and a suction hose long enough to reach the water. Then pump the water to your trough(s).
 
How much drop dose the creek have? Why not a ram pump if there set up right you just walk away and let them work. Rebuild them every year and your done. But setting them up is where it all comes done to how well it will work and how often it will need to be rebuilt.
 
MOB - Probably the best way to go from what I've been reading about those pumps. About how much does it cost to put one together and how long does it take?
 
It's all in the site prep and how far you want to go with it.

rampump.jpg


There not hard to set up once you read up on it. But the one thing that is more important then most web sites leads to is "driver pipe". The driver pipe should not shake when it is running. If you use PVC you need to have it held down with a lot of straps or burry the pipe.

I would not build the pump like a lot of sites show you how to, but buy one. If something is a forth inch off on your cutting then it will change the driver pipe drop and length for a good operation.

If you could find the right spot to put one in you should be able to do it. You find the right spot and then buy a pump that is rated for your location. A few days of work and $2,000 should do it. A loader or back hoe helps depending on your location.

I installed one for a guy down the road for $3,500 2 years ago. It started to slow down after 15 months and he called me for help. I asked him if he had rebuilt it yet and he forgot. After he found the kit I help him rebuild it and has had no more problems out of it.
 
mobgrazer":1bunezbl said:
How much drop dose the creek have? Why not a ram pump if there set up right you just walk away and let them work. Rebuild them every year and your done. But setting them up is where it all comes done to how well it will work and how often it will need to be rebuilt.
Never herd of it. I spend the better part of Sunday researching them. Sounds like a great idea.
The only problem I see is that upon occasion his creek floods, so given that he would have to anchor it very well and I doubt that any home made PVC system would hold up.
I now plan on building one in a spring I have. It produces about 15 gallons per minute. There are many sites on the net that give formulas for sizing so there should not be a problem with building my own.
Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
 
I have built a few from scratch. But if you are going to depend on it to water your cows and it is the first time messing with them I would suggest shelling out the cash and buy one. The home made units are not as reliable and need a lot of fine tuning to get them to pump at a stable rate for long periods of time.

Your right about them not holding up to a flood but I have no idea on his property lay out. If there is a good amount of fall he could still set up a nice one and have a ditch running the water back to the creek and be out of most of the floods.
 
mobgrazer":22edqwuw said:
I have built a few from scratch. But if you are going to depend on it to water your cows and it is the first time messing with them I would suggest shelling out the cash and buy one. The home made units are not as reliable and need a lot of fine tuning to get them to pump at a stable rate for long periods of time.

Your right about them not holding up to a flood but I have no idea on his property lay out. If there is a good amount of fall he could still set up a nice one and have a ditch running the water back to the creek and be out of most of the floods.
Skill I have.
Machine shop equipment I have.
Ability to learn I have.
Time and patience I have.
Availability to all the parts for free I have.
Cash is what is hard to come by.
 
If you are going to out lay some money why not consiser a small pond. I don't have any idea how the land lays but it is a one time out lay of cash for the pond and a tank below it and then no worries about if you get a flood.
 
How about a battery on a solar charger and run a Whale pump with tubing up the hill. I drilled a well to 10' and use a whale pump on a timer 1 hour on every 12 hours. The pump does 1 gallon/minute. Total cost for my water system.
$60 for whale pump
Well supplies - Scrap from a job
$20 for a DC/AC converter
$7 for a timer
$10 for tubing and misc.

I ran electricity to my well.
 
Dig a pond, fence it, and attach a waterer. Do not take chances. Murphy's law will get ya. From your username, I gather you are from KY. If so, get the landowner to go the FSA office and fill out cost share paperwork. I think there is money currently available, probably 50% of installation cost, up to $5000 or so. Also check into CRP. If your gonna fence off a large stream, the fence needs to be moved back anyway. Leaving the riparian buffer will qualify the landowner for rental payments plus a percentage of the cost of fencing.
 
If the property line runs down the middle of the creek then you could just ask the hunt club if you could fence the creek into the land that you are leasing for just a few hundred feet or something. But the best thing you could do for the future, if its possible, is to just put in a pond. Good Luck
 
just dig a trench from the bank into yer side of the fence big and deep enuff to water yer animals. a small bakhoe trench will do as long as the waters not gonna stagnate... a small loop or u shaped trench will keep water flowing w/out disturbing the natural flow of the creek..kinda like a rr sidin
 
There is too many questions for the little bit of info.

The first thing that comes to my mind is to build a rock dam, insert a 2 inch pipe, and let the upstream static head flow into a holding tank at a lower level. But we don't know how much head is available on that land.

There are too many ways to skin this cat and we don't know the whole picture.

Most all previous suggestions will work, but what is optimum?
 

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